US mulls scrapping nuclear pact with Russia

AFP
Friday, Aug 29, 2008

The White House said Thursday that it was considering scrapping a US-Russia civilian nuclear cooperation pact in response to Moscow's actions in Georgia.
"I don't think there's anything to announce yet, but I know that that is under discussion," spokeswoman Dana Perino said when asked whether Washington might drop the May 6 accord over the conflict in the former Soviet republic.

The agreement aims to allow US and Russian companies to form joint ventures in the nuclear sector and gives the go-ahead for exchanges of nuclear technology between the two countries, according to officials on both sides.

Russia would also be able to reprocess spent nuclear fuel originating in the United States, which accounts for most of the world market, in a move that has raised fears of Russia being turned into a nuclear dump.

US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart at the time Vladimir Putin inked the agreement at a summit in Kennebunkport in the United States last year and discussed it again in the Russian resort of Sochi last month.